Addition to the Library Dr. Henry J. Cadbury has presented to the library a copy of John Hodgson's rare tract: A Letter from a Member of the A rmy, to the Committee of Safety, and Councell of Officers of the Army, that they may do that which is required of them to be done, that the Lord may delight to dwell among them, and do them good : that they may not be over-turned as others, who have served themselves, and not the Lord. London, Printed for Giles Calvert, at the Black-spread-Eagle near the West end of Pauls, 1659. The Letter is a small quarto of eight pages. Henry J. Cadbury has also presented a photostat reproduction of the only other copy of the Letter known which is in Harvard College Library.1 The author's name appears at the end of the piece : " Given forth the 8th day, of the gth Moneth. From a Member of the Army, who wishes them well, but a witnesse in measure, against all deciet therein, JOHN HODGSON/' The text begins on p. 3 with " Dear Friends " and from the outset the work adopts a minatory tone. John Hodgson calls to mind the downfall of the former powers in the land and the impending fall of the Committee of Safety if its supporters continue " seeking to please the world, by upholding of those things that they love, as lordly Titles, whereby the children of this world love to please and flatter one another, with Humble Servant, Excellency, Highnesse, Honour, Worship, and the like, when they are the Divels servants, and would destroy one another for earth and titles, having not truth in the heart." He warns that the Lord would not consider them worthy to continue in power " if you yet flatter the lying Hirelings of this Nation . . . and their Mother, their two blind eyes, and offspring of filth, the two Universities, so called." After more in this vein, towards the close, John Hodgson turns to pleading : " Therefore my deare friends, prize your time, and examine your hearts, that you may know what is the good, and acceptable will of our God, to do it, that we may all with hand, and heart, go along with you, and helpe to carry on the Lords worke." He reminds the authorities of " the blood and sufferings of the Lord's dear Ones " and asks that strict and impartial inquiry may be made " that Justice may be done upon the impenitent and hard-hearted." He ends : " I have discharged my self before the Lord, in love to you all, what is required of me ; and if you will be partakers of their Sinnes, of their Plagues you must have part ; in that which altereth not, I wish you well."2 1 See Donald Wing's Short title Catalogue, 1641-1700 under Hodgson. 2 Punctuation altered. 80 ADDITION TO THE LIBRARY 8l Who was John Hodgson the author ? This question is not easy to answer. Joseph Smith's Descriptive Catalogue of Friends' Books records a work by John Hodgson (of Yorkshire?) : Love, Kindness, and due Respect, By way of Warning to the Par­ liament of the Common-wealth of England, That they may not neglect the great opportunity now put into their hands, for the redemption and freedom of these Oppressed Nations . . . From a Servant of the Lord, who hath born his Testimonie for the Lord in the day of Apostacy, and hath been a Sufferer for the Testimonie of a good Conscience, by Oppressors, under the name of a Quaker. J. Hodgson. London, Printed for Giles Calvert. 1659. In this 8-page tract Quaker John Hodgson remarks on the course of events which had brought the Parliament back into power with another chance to follow the Lord's counsel. Even as he wrote the opportunity was being cast aside by persecuting men " that cannot bow, swear, and give respect to persons/' The author warns the Parliament " think not to your selves you shall be established, if you be found hindring the Lords work ; for except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of those that was before you . . . you shall not escape the vengeance." In particular he calls upon them to " consider the great oppression of the filthy proceedings of the Laws of this Nation, and the vexatious covetous Lawyers . . . and consider the oppression of the Ministry of England, and their forced maintenance/ 1 In all these points, and in its general tenor, Love, Kindness, and due Respect is quite con­ sistent with the Letter, and it may be that the same person is the author of both. Certain similarities stand out in reading the text of the pamphlets. The titles strike the same note of warning even using the same verb '' overturn '' concerning the changes of government which ushered in the new authorities. Some phrases are closely paralleled in both works : "I have discharged myself before the Lord " ; " that he may rule whose right it is " ; " overturning many and sparing you/' It would perhaps be dangerous to cany argument from the point of style too far, particularly as the basis for comparison is so slight. It is difficult to base any argument concerning authorship on the dating of the pamphlets. The Letter is dated 8. ix. (1659) the year is not in doubt. Love, Kindness and due Respect has no day and month date, but the fact that it is addressed to the Parliament limits the date of writing to between May and October 13, 1659, or between early January and March 16, 1660 (N.S.).1 If the authors are identical, it seems unlikely that Love, Kindness, mnd due Respect was written in the summer of 1659. At this period 1 The periods between the recall of the Rump Parliament in May 1659, and the " interruption " of October 13, and the recall of Parliament in January 1660 and its final dissolution on March 16, 1660 this latter period assuming Giles Calvert dated his publications Old Style (i.e. not changing to the New Year until March 25). Vol; xlii 366 82 ADDITION TO THE LIBRARY a Friend (even if he had remained in the Army during the Protectorate) would be very unlikely to join it, however strongly his sympathies may have been claimed for the support of the tottering republican government. If this tract was written in the early months of 1660 (N.S.), it seems unlikely that the authors are identical unless we assume that Quaker John Hodgson's sufferings (due probably to the fact that he " could not so much idolize mens persons, and worship the beasts Image, as was required ") were of very recent date, and that he was cashiered in the winter of 1659-60 for insubordination. If this was the case would he not probably have given more particulars concerning events which must have been fresh in his mind ? On the dating evidence it is difficult to believe that the two works were written by the same person. It might have been easier to settle the question of authorship of the tract presented by Henry J. Cadbury if we knew anything of John Hodgson the Quaker. Joseph Smith thought he might be a Yorkshireman, and the surname is certainly fairly widespread in the West Riding. There were Friends of that name around Halifax in the time of Charles II (see Oliver Heywood's Diary). Further information on the question would be appreciated. The Autobiography of Captain John Hodgson, of Coley Hall, near Halifax, first published in 1806, and edited with additional notes by J. Horsfall Turner (Brighouse : A. B. Bayes, printer. 1882), is of no assistance. Captain Hodgson was a leading non­ conformist who saw much service in the Civil Wars. In the later 'years of the Protectorate he was mostly in Yorkshire. At Newcastle, December 10, 1659, he received arrears of army pay (Autobiography, p. 50). As between Monk and Lambert, Hodgson's sympathies were with the latter, and it is not surprising to find him in trouble after the Restoration; spied upon, imprisoned and constantly suspect for his republican and sectarian sympathies. There is no hint that he wrote the Letter.

/T"1HE Bulletin of Friends Historical Association, Vol. 38, No. 2, JL autumn number, 1949, opens with an article by William Wistar Comfort entitled " Quaker Visitors to American Presidents in the Nineteenth Century." In the course of this, we learn that, in 1827, John Quincy Adams informed Thomas Shillitoe " he was at liberty to receive me at such time as best suited myself " tribute both to the tempo of public business and to the respect for that much travelled Friend. The visits of J. J. Gurney, William Forster (1846), Edward Grubb (1904), are also described. Opal Thornburg, of Earlham College, writes on David Huddleston, and Edwin B. Bronner of Temple University writes on the interesting subject of " John Bright and the Factory Acts : humanitarianism versus laissezfaire "—" the same John Bright who opposed factory legislation was in large part responsible for giving to the working man enough to eat and the right to vote/'